A New Method for Measuring Time-Dependent Deformation: Persistent-Scatterer INSAR

干涉合成孔径雷达(InSAR)测量对于研究活火山活动、地震、滑坡和其他地球物理现象是非常有价值的。然而，时间和空间去相关性将其适用性限制在主要是干旱、植被稀少的地区，而这些危险分布在全球。永久散射体技术是一种可以消除这些噪声源的新方法，它聚焦于回波由单个明亮散射体主导的分辨率元素。这种方法在城市地区被证明是成功的，那里的人造结构是主要的散射体，但在自然地形上却不太成功，包括大多数火山、断层和山体滑坡。我们开发了一种新的分析方法，可以在自然地形中识别出比使用已发表的持久散射体方法发现的更稳定的像素。我们建议进一步发展持续散射方法，作为充分利用现有星载雷达数据档案的一种手段。我们将把这种方法应用于新数据最有助于我们理解地球物理过程的地区，包括一个火山区(Mt.一个构造区(德纳利断层)和一个滑坡区(意大利卡斯塔格诺拉)。自然灾害仍然是对社会的危险和昂贵的挑战；由于地球物理数据的匮乏，它们的研究在世界大部分地区受到限制。改进的持久散射分析方法将使现有雷达系统的遥感覆盖范围更全面，并使人们对地震、火山和山体滑坡有更全面的了解。该提案将支持一名高级博士生的工作，为培养新一代地球科学家做出贡献。我们的软件将提供给所有感兴趣的研究人员。

Interferometric SAR (InSAR) measurements have proven invaluable for study of active volcanism, earthquakes, landslides, and other geophysical phenomena. Yet temporal and spatial decorrelation limit its applicability to mostly dry, sparsely vegetated areas, while these hazards are distributed globally. The permanent scatterers technique, which focuses on resolution elements whose echo is dominated by a single bright scatterer, is a new method that can eliminate these sources of noise. This method has proven successful when applied to urban areas where man-made structures are dominant scatterers, but has been less successful over natural terrains, including most volcanoes, faults, and landslides. We have developed a new analysis approach that identifies many more stable pixels in natural terrains than are found using published persistent scatterer methods. We propose to further develop the persistent scatter method as a means to fully exploit the existing archive of spaceborne radar data. We will apply the method to areas where new data can best contribute to our understanding of geophysical processes, including one volcanic area (Mt. St. Helens), one tectonic area (Denali Fault), and one landslide area (Castagnola, Italy).Natural hazards remain dangerous and expensive challenges to society; their study is limited in most of the world by the scarcity of geophysical data. Improved persistent scattering analysis methods will result in more comprehensive remote sensing coverage from existing radar systems, and lead to a more complete understanding of earthquakes, volcanoes, and landslides. The proposal will support the work of a senior Ph.D. student, contributing to the training of a new generation of Earth scientists. Our software will be made available to all interested researchers.